1A/N: Please R&R! Reviews are welcomed with open arms.
Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or anything to do with it. That all belongs to DPB, CBS, and Paramount.
Rooftops And Roses and Lost Love
Ari had hit the nail on the head, that was for sure. But the truth stung Gibbs as bad as if Ari had hit the nail on Gibbs' head.
Gibbs wondered what Kate had felt right before she died, when the bullet exploded through her head. Did it feel like she had been hit with a sledgehammer? Or did she feel nothing at all? What was her last thought? Gibbs liked to think that it was of him. He knew that when he died, his last thought would be of her.
He forced those thoughts out of his head. Hadn't he thought about that enough over the past three days! Kate was an agent; she knew that she had to risk her life every single day. But it was like Ducky said, this was so much different than when Gibbs had lost men in combat. And it wasn't just because Kate was a woman, it was also because she was the woman that Gibbs loved, and she shouldn't have died. Gibbs thought that he should have died instead. He wished he could have, wished that Ari had gunned him down instead of his sweet Katie.
But it hadn't, and now he was alone. Alone with his thoughts. And his thoughts scared him.
Gibbs walked out of the florist's shop carrying two red roses. Two for the two years he'd known her. Two for the two million times he wished he'd said something that was very simple, three words, to her but hadn't. Two for the number of times he'd had the chance to kill Ari but hadn't.
Gibbs climbed slowly up the stairs of the warehouse until he reached the rooftop. The rooftop where she had died. The rooftop where his old life had died with her, and the rooftop where his new life was beginning. He walked slowly and purposefully over to where the dark red stain stood out on the grey concrete. He laid the two roses on top of the stain, and the color of the roses matched the color of the stained concrete perfectly. A single tear slipped down Gibbs cheek, landing on a rose petal. The tear stayed there, glistening and catching the sun's rays. Another tear joined the first, and then Gibbs turned and walked back down the stairs and drove away, leaving that dreadful place behind. But his tears remained, a reminder of the love of an NCIS Special Agent. A man who builds a boat in his basement. A man with steely blue eyes and stunning silver hair. A man that had loved and lost. But after remembering and reminiscing about all of the wonderful times he had with Kate, Gibbs decided that he agreed with the saying; that it was better to have loved and lost than never loved at all.
Hours later Ari had said how romantic it was that Gibbs had placed roses on the rooftop. Thinking back later, as he placed a single rose on Kate's casket, he smiled to himself. 'Kate would have liked that. She believed in love and romance. And now I do too. I just wish that I had realized that earlier...'
"Sorry Kate," he murmured. But his apology was also a thank you. His Katie had taught him what true love was, and also that romance between agents might not always be a bad thing...